


Finding Home

by i_like_to_touch_butts



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Gen, Original Character(s), Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 15:24:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5631451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_like_to_touch_butts/pseuds/i_like_to_touch_butts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young ghoul lost and alone gets some help from a man wearing the clothes of John Hancock.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finding Home

**Author's Note:**

> I started playing the fallout games only recently so forgive me if anything seems off. Also forgive me if Hancock seems OOC I've never written for him before this. I hope you like my ghoul baby. If so I may write more about her.

Life in the Commonwealth was fast paced, brutal, and unforgiving. It was literally a dog eat dog, super mutant eat human, human eat human world. It was undeniably hard, of course no one had ever said it was easy. The thing is, some people have their parents to help prepare them for what it will be like when they get older. Some had parents to teach them how to defend themselves, how to scavenge for food, and sometimes they were able to take over the family business. Even though a lot of the time the family business was mercenary work or just plain stealing from small settlements that did nothing to deserve it. Penny had no such luck to fit into any of the categories. She had instead been born in a much simpler time. A time where the biggest thing she had to worry about was getting ready to leave her family to go to her first choice college to become a surgeon. If she’d known that the nuclear apocalypse was coming she would have spent more time with her dad learning how to shoot a gun. 

Now, she worried every day of her prolonged life about if she was going to eat again soon or if today would be the day she would die. Currently sitting with her back against the wall of an old grocery store janitorial closet she was more worried about the first. She could almost laugh at the irony of it, starving in a grocery store. She had went inside with the intention of hopefully finding at least a single can of Cram but instead found that raiders had picked the place clean. She had given a disappointed sigh and dropped against the closet door, that’s when the raiders decided to come back. That was weeks ago and she was wondering if something had happened to them because she hadn’t heard any noise. Maybe she would venture out of her very small haven today to make sure. The ghoul stood up slowly working out a cramp in her right leg grabbing the baseball bat she had stolen a while ago from an abandoned sandlot. Shaking slightly she reached for the door handle. It seemed luck was in her favor because no one was around, so she ventured out carefully. 

Going up the aisle the once contained cereal things start to look grim for dinner or was it lunch? It didn’t matter, she would literally kill for a box of sugar bombs. Then again, who is she kidding she could never hurt anyone. She literally ran from radroaches. The broken glass of the refrigerated section catches her eye. No matter how many times she has looked at her reflection since waking up it still shocks her in the slightest way. Sighing Penny remembers how she used to look. Her dark skin mostly flawless with a light dusting of freckles across her cheeks and the occasional blemish. Now her face was mostly grotesque scar tissue, mangled lips, previously average nose nowhere to be seen. Long light brown hair that used to brush her shoulders had fell out in clumps and was long gone. Green eyes the shade of the jewels on the ring her mother had given her as a graduation present where now dark like the night sky. She had many people have crushed on her throughout her high school years, girls and boys. 

Sure she missed her looks but that was something stupid and petty she could get over, what she couldn’t was losing her family. She remembered the day that she lost them as if it had been yesterday and not over 200 years ago. Her father David had signed them up for their local vault, laughing about it when asked. “It’s like insurance, you never know.” He’d tell them. She had always believed her dad to be a very knowing man, even past his history degree. Though, the ghoul wished that if he had known the bombs were dropping that he would have told her. At least then she’d have been prepared but of course she had not. She had been trying on a new brighter shade of red lipstick when her panicked mother came into the room with her younger brother on her hip. “We have to go. Now.” She had told her daughter in the calm but firm tone she used when she meant business. In her ‘before’ life she always listened when her mom used that voice on her. The lipstick tube had been tucked away into her pants pocket and they were out the door. Nearly everyone in the neighborhood was rushing to get to the vault, police and vault tech security were trying to reign everyone in. Penny learned that they were not too good at their job. In the midst of being bumped around in the crowd she had lost her mother, hoping that she could find her once they were in the vault she kept going. Until an elbow knocked her unconscious. 

When she woke up she had felt sick, more so than she ever had. Her vision was blurry and her surrounding were eerily quiet. Eventually, with much protest from her limbs, she got to her feet. “Hello!” She called out and then stopped moving at all. She didn’t even recognize her own voice. Instead of smooth and high it was scratchy and deep. Putting a hand to her throat she realized her skin looked up different as well. Soon she ran into a group of raiders who had shouted “Ghoul!” and tried to attack her. She had been saved by a young man swooping to her rescue and telling her to run. When she did she never even looked back, not even to thank him. She had pretty much been on the move since that moment. Sometimes she would spend some time with some settlers but moved on quickly not wanting to be a burden to any of them. The thought to look for her family hadn’t even crossed her mind, they were probably long gone. The sound of footsteps against silence pulled her out of the past and back to the present. She gripped the baseball bat tighter bring it to a defensive position spinning around to face the new comer. 

“Woah sister, no need to get hostile.” He said. The first thing that she noticed was that he was like her. His shotgun was held to his side in one hand and the other held up in surrender. A smile pulled at his lips as he spoke. Something told her to trust him despite the previous interactions she’d had recently. 

“Sorry.” She said putting the bat down to her side. 

“No need to be. You out here all by your lonesome?” She gave him a nod. “That’s kinda dangerous don’t ya think? Not that I don’t think a young lady like you couldn’t defend herself.” He carried himself a lot different than the other ghouls she’d ever met. He seemed much more confident in himself, something just made her want to trust him. She observed his clothes and realized that they definitely didn’t start out as his. She had always been quite a history buff like her father and had read every book on founding fathers. This ghoul was wearing John Hancocks outfit.

“I am alone. I lost my family, a long time ago.” She says sadly. 

“So how about a new one?” He asks and that catches her attention. 

“What do you mean?” She asks carefully. Was this guy offering to take her in?

“Ever hear of a place called Goodneighbor? It’s this charming little community a little walk south of here. A place where people can live without judgement, free to be whoever you want to be. The mayor is a good friend of mine.” He says smiling like he knew something she didn’t. Oh how she wanted to go be in this Goodneighbor place, maybe it was where she finally would come to belong in this wasteland? But she couldn’t too many things were telling her so. Money being the number one. 

 

“I don’t have any caps to buy a house or even rent a room.” She says and her shoulders slump a little.

“Sister, I can help you out with that. Didn’t I just say that the mayor and I go way back? And there’s this sweet lady that runs the general store who I’m sure would give you a job and love to have the help.” He says and that definitely sounds good. Much better than wondering around waiting to die of starvation. 

 

“I-thank you. So much, what can I do to repay you?” She asks.

“Live the way you want to, not wasting away out here. I’ve seen it happen way too many times to people like us. When you get there find Daisy’s discounts tell her John sent you.” And as quickly as he had come he left. She hoped she’d see him again in this new place, he did say he was a friend of the mayors after all. After that she packed up what little belongings she had and went out. It took about a day and a half of walking til she arrived at the glowing sign that proudly proclaimed ‘Goodneighbor’. As soon was Penny walked through the door she spotted the discount store he had told her about. 

“What can I do for you sweetheart?” The ghoul woman asked when she went inside. 

“I, uh, someone told me that if I came to you that you could help me? He said his name was John.” A knowing look came over her face. 

“He did, did he?” For a moment she was afraid this other ghoul was going to tell her that he was wrong and not to expect handouts. However she just smiled. “In that case you can come on upstairs. I’ve been needing a hand around here and I guess he remembered as he was out picking up strays.” 

Hesitantly Penny followed the woman up the stairs to an area she assumed that she lived in. “When was the last time you ate? What size dress do you wear?” She asked all at once pointing a chair out to her. 

“A week or so I guess. Um, small.” The older ghoul went into another room and brought back a pile of purple fabric, not as torn as ratty as what she was currently wearing.

“Go try that on, I’ll get you something to eat.” She said pointing out a room off to the side. Quickly she left her place on the chair and followed her direction. Once she had on the dress that fit surprisingly well, she looked into the cracked mirror on the wall. Another moment of insecurity passed through her and she touched the sides of her head where small, thin clumps of hair remained. At that moment the other returned carrying a bowl of noodles. The smell alone distracted her from her trivial thoughts. She made sure to thank Daisy as she began to eat. Half way through her meal the other ghoul got up and was gone for a just a moment before returning. 

“I brought you something to go along with that dress.” She said giving her a smile. It was a black feathered headband that she’d only seen girls in glamor magazines wearing. It was a little old and dusty but still beautiful. 

“Are you sure?” She asked brushing her fingers along the single feather. 

“Of course. It’d look out of place on an old woman like me, you’d better take it since you’re young and beautiful.” Practically glowing at the compliment she went to the mirror to try it on. She couldn’t help but smile at her own reflection. 

“Thank you so much Daisy. For everything.” Penny said not being able to resist giving her a hug. 

“Don’t thank me sweetheart. You have our mayor to thank for this.” She said and Penny chewed her lip for a second.

“Could I meet him then? John said that he was a good friend of his, I’d like to thank him personally.” Daisy let out a short laugh.

“Sure you can. I’m sure he’s back at the statehouse taking care of actual business right now. The last time I saw him his bodyguard was trying to get him on that track.” When she was finished eating she followed Daisy over to the old statehouse. She soon realized that Goodneighbor wasn’t exactly a big place but that it was perfect. No one had even looked twice at her even though she was new. 

Once inside the statehouse Daisy led her up some stairs and they stopped in front of a woman a few feet taller than her wearing some heavy duty armor. All of Penny’s friends used to tease her in school for having a type and if they were there now they would be still. The bodyguard, who was introduced as Fahrenheit, filled that type perfectly. Intimidating, that was the word she thought of when she looked at her. She was so distracted by this that she almost missed her saying that her boss was behind the closed doors. She quickly gave her a stuttering thank you, quietly hoping to see her again later. 

“Penny, meet the mayor of Goodneighbor. Mayor Hancock.” Daisy said pushing the doors open. As soon as she saw him perched on his chair typing away at his terminal she did something she hadn’t done in a long time. She let out a giggle because it made sense now. It was him, her ‘knight in shining armor’ that had rescued her. He was good friends with the mayor because he was the mayor. He looked up giving her a smile and a small wave. 

“I see that you’ve made it. What do you think of our little community so far?” She couldn’t stop smiling.

“It’s perfect.” She said as another feeling that she hadn’t felt in a while rose up in her. The feeling of being home.


End file.
